Iowan reunited with egg she signed more than 70 years ago

MASON CITY, Iowa (KCCI) - An Iowa woman has been reunited with an egg she wrote her name and a message on more than 70 years ago.

Mary Foss Starn, 92, of Forest City, signed the egg while working on an egg farm in Forest City in 1951.

A man found it after buying a carton of eggs at a grocery store in New York. He decided to keep it because of what was written on it.

The writing on the side of the egg said, “Whoever gets this egg, please write me. Miss Mary Foss, Forest City Iowa. April 2, 1951.”

John Amalfitano was later given the egg while cleaning out the man’s house around 20 years ago.

He and his neighbor were unable to track down Mary, until they decided to post about it in the Facebook group called “Weird (and Wonderful) Secondhand Finds That Just Need To Be Shared.”

“I’m guessing a shout out from a young, Iowa egg farm worker, who dreamed of making exciting friends in far away cities,” Amalfitano wrote in the post.

The post got thousands of likes, shares and comments, leading to a connection with Mary’s daughter, who told Amalfitano her mother is now living in Mason City.

“That’s odd for an egg,” Starn told KCCI. “It must’ve all been dried up inside, is what it was.”

But Mary isn’t surprised by her newfound fame.

“Not really,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of big deals come up like that through your life, you have lots of things and it’s kind of fun when it does.”

She says she has no idea how an egg could survive for more than 70 years.

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